Martin O'Malley to speak at MLK ceremony

CaptionMarch on Washington

Leonard Freed via Library of Congress

The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington and called for civic and economic rights for African-Americans. The event culminated with Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington and called for civic and economic rights for African-Americans. The event culminated with Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. (Leonard Freed via Library of Congress)

The governor will address the crowd for about two minutes around noon, taking the same stage that will later host civil rights leaders and three presidents as they commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.

King led a crowd of more than 250,000 on Aug. 28, 1963 during the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which helped pressure Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

President Barack Obama will give the keynote address at Wednesday's event; former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter will also speak, along with several other elected leaders.

Bells will ring at 3 p.m. marking to the minute the half-century that passed since King delivered his most famous speech. The entire "Let Freedom Ring" celebration at the Lincoln Memorial will last from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m.

O'Malley frequently quotes King in other policy speeches. O'Malley spokeswoman Takirra Winfield said the governor was "sentimental" about the civil rights leader and was personally crafting his remarks for Wednesday.

Stephon Ferguson performed portions of Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech Wednesday before a group at Baltimore's City Hall rotunda. Ferguson is the only re-enactor licensed by the King Estate. (Yvonne Wenger/Baltimore Sun video)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fifty years after Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech, nearly half of those who responded to a new poll said a lot more needs to be done before people in the United States would "be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

Clarence Jones, the advisor to the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. who co-wrote an early draft of the "I Have A Dream Speech," recounted the story Monday of how King delivered the most famous part of the speech spontaneously.